Solar cells which use platinum powder to facilitate the reaction turning light into energy could be about to make a return.

Prices of solar cells have become increasingly expensive as a shortage of silicon chips has squeezed demand, but as a result there is a growing move towards using dye sensitised solar cells, which use platinum powder.

Wan Chi-chao, a professor in the department of chemical engineering at National Tsing Hua University, in Taiwan, has been looking into the potential of dye sensitised solar cells and discovered a new method to reduce production costs by as much as a half.

The new technique means that there is no longer any need to use a vacuum process or a high temperature approach, which was previously required to affix the platinum powder to the electrode grid.

However, the new approach simply requires an addition of a solution to sodium sulphur organic salt, so that the platinum becomes stuck to the electrode after a two-stage immersion process.

The development means that dye sensitised solar cells could become far more cost-effective and therefore more widely available in the future.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd